This invention relates to a drive shaft and coupling adapter assembly for connecting multiple rotary machines mounted on a common support to be driven in tandem in a predetermined direction by a single source of rotary power also fixed to support.
There are a number of situations in which it becomes desirable to mount and drive multiple similar machines from a common power source. For instance, it is often very desirable in farm applications to drive multiple pumps in a spraying operation, particularly where different chemicals are being sprayed on a field, which chemicals can not be pre-mixed. It is common practice for a farmer to tow behind his tractor a trailer having a tank thereon connected by hoses to tractor-mounted pump and spray heads. Ordinarily the farmer will spray the field with one chemical, and then will have to change tanks and/or chemical mixture and spray the same field again on subsequent passes to apply the second chemical mixture. This is time and labor consuming. Sometimes there are more than two chemicals which require application. Time and effort and expense could be saved if the applications can be done simultaneously, using individual pumps each spraying a different mixture and all driven by the same tractor power take-off. However, after such a multiple spraying operation, pumps that would not be further used on a subsequent operation would have to be removed immediately since a pump can not be run dry. Quick installation and removal of pumps to achieve different configurations is therefore necessary to increase efficiency.
Pumping is not the only situation in which quick interchangeability of machines is highly desirable. There are also applications for rotary electrical machinery and other devices to be drive from a common source of rotary power. Moreover, there are many non-farming uses requiring the driving of multiple pumps to handle diverse fluids.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,567,123 to Mitchell shows several pumps driven by a common engine to pump different fluids for spraying, but showing a very complex drive system which would be highly expensive to construct, and non-flexible in use. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,804,016 to Moore, 3,341,128 to Nagin, and 4,430,047 to Ilg, show far simpler constructions including two pumps driven by a common shaft, but the pumps are not easily separable and therefore the system is inflexible in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,775,204 to Batten et al is the closest patent to the present disclosure, showing two pumps rotated by a common hydraulic motor, but not simultaneously. Moreover, the shafts are not screwed together to form a single virtually rigid shaft which permits mounting advantages as discussed hereinbelow. U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,305 to Holmes shows an adapter for coupling between a threaded shaft and a splined shaft, but fails to show the present over-all inventive cooperation of parts to provide a unitary desirable result.
There are several other pump patents showing a shaft having threads at one end, i.e. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,363,603 to Petersen and 4,080,123 to Melchinger. However, no disclosure is known at this time showing male threads at one end of a pump shaft and cooperative female threads at the other end whereby multiple rotary machines can be coupled together in tandem and driven by a single source of rotary power.